Being a boss is different than being a manager. Being a boss, to me, is 'This is how I do things so this is how you do things.' The employee has to bend no matter how ridiculous the expectation or demand. Being a manager, to me, is 'This is the goal we have to meet. How do I manage each individual person to best achieve that goal?' It is the 'boss' bending to bring out the best of each employee.
Some employees thrive under constant direction. They need to know what every expectation of them is and they achieve each goal in the way and order they are asked to do it. Some employees work better under their own steam and crumble if you micro-manage them. It is better to let those employees know what your end-goal expectation is of them and leave them free to find the best way they can do it. Often with these types of employees they will even come up with better means of getting there than you would have mapped out for them.
Some employees are not going to work unless there are consequences attached to failure to work, they are motivated through disciplinary action. Other employees are motivated by appreciation and accolades for their achievements.
I believe the best managers bend their management style to suit each individual employee and get the best out of them.
I try to be a good manager. Some days I succeed. Some days I am just a boss. And in any field there are going to be some things you just have to be a boss about. I find that in an overly regulated field such as mine is this happens more often making it quite difficult to achieve my goal of being a good manager sometimes. But, alas, these are my own issues and this topic is in general not specific.
I will say that some employees have a sense of entitlement that simply amazes me and I find those employees the most difficult to put my 'good manager' hat on with. I disagree with this part of what you said:
"The people you appreciate the most are those who simply follow your orders"
If I am wrong or if there is a better way to accomplish a goal I appreciate much more those members of my staff who will point that out to me. I find an open exchange of ideas is much more conducive to reaching our goals. Certainly I expect it to be a respectful discussion, but I think being open to the thoughts and ideas of your employees is important to good management. My best employees know they can come to me with their ideas if they think we are doing something wrong or if they think there is a better way to do something. They understand that I won't always agree with their ideas and that sometimes I will agree and simply won't be able to implement it due to budget constraints or whatnot... but I would not want to stifle the creative process, I would not want to miss a good opportunity to make all of us successful because I was too bullheaded to think anyone could have a good idea but me.
Anywho, that was a great deal of rambling from me after a night of very little sleep and being at work at 5 am so I hope my thoughts were coherrent, relevant to the topic, and made some semlance of sense. ;)
Jackie
